Healing Miracle by a Glory-Soaked Hanky
When I first started obeying the Bible to minister to the sick, I always asked, “How do I do this?”
I heard so many stories about other ministers operating in miracles. All of them operated differently and had different views on how to heal the sick, and they all seemed effective. I committed to read, watch, and learn how to flow in miracles. At the time, I did not have a ministry. I only had overwhelming compassion to see sick people healed. Now, I still have overwhelming compassion to see the sick healed, but I learned through those years that ministry opportunities are everywhere when I follow the Holy Spirit.
I learned so much through the teachings and ministry of Randy Clark. I have attended several of his meetings, and each time I would sit and take notes on how he flowed with the Holy Spirit. I noticed he took time for people to receive healing in different ways. Some were healed by hearing testimonies of others, some were healed by hearing a word of knowledge, and some were healed from receiving a prayer. Randy’s example has been instrumental in my life in discovering the ways of God.
Now when my husband and I minister to the sick, we ask people to check their bodies several times during our services. We do this in order to discover the way in which God healed them. The first time we saw someone healed by hearing a healing testimony in our service happened when one woman shared that a growth in her throat dissolved while she was seated in our service. As she shared her testimony, another woman heard it and began to feel around for her abdominal tumor, and it was gone as well! Later that woman had some medical tests and found that in addition to this, another mass in her lung had disappeared! She later shared that when she heard the first woman who was healed testify, she had the faith to believe it could happen to her; that’s when she began to check her body for any differences.
Through lessons that only experience can give, I found that the Holy Spirit is my compass. I simply needed to follow the Leader. Learning from others has been absolutely paramount in my journey, but at the end of the day, my true north is found in Him.
One day God spoke to me through my children (as He often does). He wanted to teach me a lesson regarding His presence. He reminded me that my children can usually predict my direction in a given situation because they know me. They know my nature and my heart because of our connection. My children don’t fully know me through texts and occasional letters I write them. They know me because they experience me daily. I can even be in the same house with them and truly not be present because our relationship grows when we encounter one another.
Similarly, this same principle applies to operating in miracles. If God tells me to lay hands on someone for healing, I will. If He wants to use a garment or cloth as a point of access for someone’s faith, I will partner with that (see Mark 6:56; Acts 19:11–12). Anytime I sense the glory present to heal, I explore what is happening in the room before hands are laid on anyone. I like to condition people to look first to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. If they wait to see what’s happening through a person first, they may miss what God wants to do in them. I always like to bring awareness to His presence. One of the ways I do that is to ask the Holy Spirit what He’s doing in the room by word of knowledge (see 1 Corinthians 12:8). I also ask people to check their bodies for any differences before prayer or laying on of hands and have them share what is happening. We have many results from giving God’s presence time to move.
I must also be honest and say that the goal of our meetings is not to see a miracle, although Jesus paid for this breakthrough on the cross. Our goal is to provide a place for God’s presence to remain. We want a place for Jesus to be glorified, and as a result, miracles take place. Sickness cannot remain in the dwelling place of the Most High (see Psalms 91).
To be honest, there is no formula. That’s the beauty of being in a relationship with the Holy Spirit. God knows the perfect way to connect with each individual, and it may look different each time. Jesus was so connected to the Father that every miracle He performed happened differently. I believe Jesus’ intimacy with the Father as His Son is why Jesus performed miracles in various ways. Miracles are a byproduct of the presence of God.
I have seen and read about healing atmospheres being created in many different ways. We have personally witnessed an atmosphere of glory come through praise and worship. These expressions of faith in Jesus produce the most creative sounds and movements. In our services we have seen how praise and worship open a gate of glory. Worshiping Jesus through dance, painting, and spontaneous songs is key to creating atmospheres for the power of God to flow; all of these are biblical expressions of praise and worship. Another way God heals is through joy. We have seen many people healed of physical and emotional trauma as the Holy Spirit came upon them with laughter (see Luke 10:21; John 15:11; Romans 15:13; and Hebrews 1:9).
The miracle is not found in an object or expression. The miracles are found in God’s presence. Therefore, He chooses how He wants the miracle performed.
Miracles Reveal the Father
“If you have seen me, you have seen the Father” (John 14:9 CEV).
Jesus is our ultimate example. He is perfect in all His ways. When He shows up, everything wrong is made right. True justice and righteousness are expressed when wrong things are made right. The Bible tells us that righteousness and justice are the foundation of God’s throne (see Psalms 89:14). Everything Jesus did in the Bible revealed the nature of the Father (see Hebrews 1:3). The miracles of Jesus recorded in Scripture show us the Father’s heart for humanity. While I do not believe in turning scriptures into formulas, I believe it is essential for me to have a revelation of the heart of God contained in those scriptures. Jesus never followed rules; He followed relationship. Rules minus relationship equals religion. Jesus knew the Father’s heart toward a person or situation, and He responded accordingly. Jesus healed the sick and raised the dead because He loved people deeply. His compassion moved Him to perform miracles.
“So Jesus said, ‘I speak to you eternal truth. The Son is unable to do anything from himself or through his own initiative. I only do the works that I see the Father doing, for the Son does the same works as his Father’” (John 5:19 TPT).
We can observe in the Bible the various ways Jesus healed the sick, raised the dead, and cast out demons. For example, certain passages record Jesus touching people when the miracle happened (see Matthew 8:3), while others reached out to touch Jesus and were healed (see Matthew 9:20; 14:36). Other times, Jesus healed and delivered with only a word (see Psalms 107:20; Matthew 8:8; 15:21–28).
Some of the ways God healed in the Bible could have been turned into formulas in our ministry. We could have determined that healing only comes by handkerchiefs or by touching “anointed” garments. Or maybe we could have concluded that healing blind eyes only comes by placing spittle and mud on someone’s eye. Don’t misunderstand; I’ve done these things and have seen healing happen (sans the spitting), but the direction came from friendship with the Holy Spirit. Sons and daughters respond to the impulses of the Holy Spirit (see Romans 8:14).
Testimony of Handkerchief Healing
One day I was praying for a gentleman who was standing in proxy for his diabetic, bedridden father. This son explained to me that his father’s feet were swollen twice their size, had skin abrasions, and were extremely painful. All I kept hearing internally was “pray over the handkerchief and send it home to his father.” I remembered Acts 19 and the account of Paul’s hand cloth being anointed with the Holy Spirit and healing those who touched it. The problem was, I didn’t have a handkerchief. I decided I would grab a napkin or piece of paper; I was willing to use anything. I told the gentleman that I had a funny impression about praying over a handkerchief, according to Acts 19. He laughed and said, “This is not funny at all! My dad always carried a handkerchief with him, and he gave one to me and my brother. Now we always carry one!” A burst of deep belly laughter hit the both of us, and we ended up laughing over the handkerchief as we held it in our hands. The gentleman left and took the handkerchief home to his father. A couple weeks later I saw the young man, and he told me that the morning after he prayed with his dad and gave him the handkerchief, the swelling in his feet went down and his pain disappeared. He even showed me before-and-after pictures of his dad’s feet!
After Jesus empowered others by the Holy Spirit (see John 20:22; Acts 2), we find people with varying backgrounds operating in miracles in many different ways. In addition to laying hands, as mentioned above, the apostle Paul healed the sick with his handkerchief and clothing. In Acts 5:15 we read about the sick being healed by Peter’s shadow. Neither person made their operation a formula or rule. They both became a resting place for the Holy Spirit in their lives.
Miracles performed by those who have chosen to host the Holy Spirit may seem extraordinary and unattainable, but to God this is our normal. He is restoring us to our original purpose and design. The best book I’ve read on this subject is Hosting the Presence by Bill Johnson. He states that the greatest honor in life is to learn how to host the presence of the Holy Spirit. I couldn’t agree more. I want this to be my normal.
God’s Nature Is Revealed in the Glory
God’s nature is revealed by His ways (see Exodus 33). When God’s glory overshadows people, cities, and nations, His nature is revealed by the way He does things. I personally saw the kindness of God each time He healed me, and that kindness led me to repentance (see Romans 2:4). I’ve seen God’s faithfulness heal a pastor from cochlear damage, and I’ve seen God’s goodness heal a drug addict’s injured knee as he walked by me in the streets of San Francisco. I did not lay hands on him, I only spoke to him. When his healing took place, the goodness of God hovered over the street corner as others encountered the power of God that was present to heal. In response to His kindness, many turned to Jesus that night.
His kindness led people to repentance. God is not in a perpetual state of offense. He is not angry or moody. He desires to reveal His love to people, and He accomplished this through His Son, Jesus. While we were yet sinners Christ died for us. His nature is to love. His nature is to heal all who are sick and oppressed by the devil (see Acts 10:38).
“When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick” (Matthew 14:14 NIV).
